UEL drama: Arsenal frustrated by late equalizer as United triumph away

Arsenal may still make it to the Europa League semi-finals, but it won’t be before they put their supporters’ patience to test. Czech team Slavia proved a tough nut to crack as the Gunners struggled to break through. They did score thanks to two substitutes. Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were on the pitch for just a few minutes when they combined expertly to find the net of the plucky visitors. Auba did well to slide a perfectly-weighted forward pass into the path of onrushing Pepe who outran the defenders and applied a classy finish to lift the ball over the keeper.

It looked like the moment of class finally broke Arsenal’s shackles but their joy was short-lived. Mikel Arteta’s head was in his hands deep in injury time when the Gunners failed to clear their lines and allowed Tomas Holes to head past Bernd Leno from close range and leave everything to play for when the teams meet again in Prague.

Arsenal were wasteful at Emirates against a well-drilled Slavia side. It’s going to be a tough return leg next Thursday.

Manchester United faced a rampant Granada side who eliminated Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer’s old club Molde in the previous round. Marcus Rashford made the most of a long ball from Victor Lindelof and evaded the defenders of the overly cautious Granada defence.

The Red Devils overcome Granada after a long battle (©AFP)

The Spaniards summoned to try and get back in the game with on-loan Chelsea Brazilian Kenedy causing problems for the Red Devils with his trickery. The Spanish side was playing second-division football two season ago but you could never tell by the way they put their reputable opponents under pressure in the second half. However, their inability to turn their possession into goals were cruelly punished in the dying seconds when Bruno Fernandes’ penalty effectively secured United’s passage into last four of the competition.

Dinamo Zagreb produced one of the performances of the season when they knocked out Jose Mourinho and his Spurs out of the competition last month but they didn’t look that good against La Liga side Villareal. The Yellow Submarine controlled the game and won by a single goal from the spot.

Ajax’s rookie goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen had a torrid time as his mistake allowed Roma to get back in the game in Amsterdam. Ajax were looking good and had a penalty to make it 2-0, but Roma’s custodian Pau Lopez kept Dusan Tadic’s spot kick out and gave his team strength to attack the Dutch giants. A few more missed chances for the hosts invited the Italians who got another potentially crucial away goal when Roger Ibanez struck late on following a scramble in Ajax’ penalty area.

Second legs are to be played on Thursday, 15 April. Mora drama to follow!

EUROPA LEAGUE

Quarterfinals

Thursday

Ajax – Roma 1-2 (1-0)

/Klaassen 39 – Pellegrini 57, Ibanez 87/

Dinamo Zagreb – Villareal 0-1 (0-1)

/Moreno 44 pen/

Granada - Manchester United 0-2 (0-1)

/Rashford 31, Fernandes 90 pen/

Arsenal - Slavia Praha 1-1 (0-0)

/Pepe 86 – Holes 90+4/